Broadheads are well known for use with arrows, primarily in the sport of big game hunting. Broadheads are designed to give reliable, deep penetration and to generate a large wound channel in order to humanely dispatch the target animal.
Prior art broadheads including a number of different types. The first such type is an expandable broadhead having a retracted, inflight blade disposition in which the blade is held at least partially within the broadhead body. Upon impact, the blades expand outward to generate the required large wound channel. Such broadheads have the advantage of inflight stability and not the subject to the influence of cross winds. However, such broadheads are not of a relatively simple design, requiring some mechanism to shift the blades from the inflight-retracted disposition to the expanded penetrating disposition.
A further type of prior art broadhead is one that can be characterized as having fixed main blades that are not replaceable. Such broadheads are typically formed in a unitary integral manner. While such blades are extremely simple in construction, a bent or dull blade is not easily rectified.
A further type of prior art broadhead has fixed main blades that are replaceable by use of a multi-component body. The multi-component body may include a shank and a screw on penetrating tip. Removal of the penetrating tip from the shank allows the main blades to be replaced. Forming separate cooperative shanks and penetrating tips add significantly to the manufacturing cost of this type of broadhead.
Another type of prior art broadhead is a broadhead having fixed main blades that are replaceable and a unitary body. Such broadheads typically have a multi-faceted penetrating tip with a blade-retaining notch presented at the trailing edge of the intersection of two facets. The blade-retaining notch captures the leading edge of a single main blade. The notch is typically not much wider than the thickness dimension of the blade. A difficulty with such broadheads is that an off axis penetration by the broadhead tends to dislodge the blade leading edge from the blade retaining notch. The blade then disadvantageously separates from the broadhead body and does not penetrate the target.
What is needed in the industry then is a broadhead of simple unitary construction with readily replaceable main blades that has the reliability and penetrating characteristics of a broadhead having fixed main blades that are not replaceable.